Your Top Movies of 2023

Year after year I list the movies I did and did not like of that particular year and every year the list I like gets shorter while the list I don't just grows, so I decided that instead of listing every movie of 2023 that I saw, I will keep it very simple and only list the movies that I enjoyed and would watch more than once.

Wylde's Most Enjoyable Movies of 2023:

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (I've already seen it three times and it is only film on my list to have warranted more than one viewing for me so far.)
Creed III
M3GAN
John Wick: Chapter 4
Across the Spider-Verse

What are your top movie recommendations of 2023?

Damn! Forgot about our annual thread. I still haven't seen some movies because I wanted to wait until my theater room was done. But here is what I got:

Top Picks
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Creed III
M3GAN
Extraction 2
Scream 6

Movies I Enjoyed
Leave The World Behind
Barbie
The Creator
The Hunger Games the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Talk to Me
A Million Miles Away
The Killer
Fair Play
Blue Beetle
Plane
The Equalizer 3
Knock at the Cabin
65
Hypnotic

Watched
Oppenheimer
Killers of the Flower Moon
Dream Scenario
Infinity Pool
Rebel Moon
Evil Dead Rise
Dumb Money
Thanksgiving
Saw X
Freelance
The Little Mermaid
Saltburn
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Fast X
The Flash

Plan To Watch
Past Lives
John Wick 4
Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One
A Haunting in Venice
The Retirement Plan
BlackBerry
Iron Claw
No One Will Save You
Retribution

UltimateMarvel wrote:Damn! Forgot about our annual thread. I still haven't seen some movies because I wanted to wait until my theater room was done. But here is what I got:

Top Picks
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Creed III
M3GAN
Extraction 2
Scream 6

Movies I Enjoyed
Leave The World Behind
Barbie
The Creator
The Hunger Games the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Talk to Me
A Million Miles Away
The Killer
Fair Play
Blue Beetle
Plane
The Equalizer 3
Knock at the Cabin
65
Hypnotic

Watched
Oppenheimer
Killers of the Flower Moon
Dream Scenario
Infinity Pool
Rebel Moon
Evil Dead Rise
Dumb Money
Thanksgiving
Saw X
Freelance
The Little Mermaid
Saltburn
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Plan To Watch
Past Lives
John Wick 4
Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One
A Haunting in Venice
The Retirement Plan
BlackBerry
Iron Claw
No One Will Save You
Retribution

I didn't even see 1/3 of the movies you watched this year. In years past I went out of my way to see as many of that years releases as I could but this year, I didn't care enough to see many of the new movies but there are still a couple of titles that I do plan on seeing soon like; Across the Spider-Verse, Saltburn and Oppenheimer.

Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One is one of the biggest disappointments of the whole year for me and it killed my enthusiasm for the franchise in one definitive and fatal blow. I had such hope and optimism about where they could go in the future and all of that erased just to keep stroking Cruise's inflated ego for another decade. Yay!

Sympathy for the Devil was another big letdown. For the majority of the year I kept hearing everybody hyping how incredible it was and about ten minutes in I not only figured out the "twist" ending but I realized the movie clearly didn't have a script and the director must have just said "Go full Cage" and he sure as shit did. Every single scene felt like the kind of stuff normal directors allow Cage to improv after they've gotten the real takes and they just want him to get all that fuckin craziness out so they can be serious but this director just decided to only use the insane outtakes with endless over the top behavior that makes all of his past characters look completely normal by comparison. Just so fucking weird man...

What movies surprised you in either the best or worst ways in 2023?

My list of 2023 movies is:

- Fast X
- Rebel Moon

... and they both fucking sucked.

I was going to add X, but realised it was a 2022 movie.

I only got about 10 minutes in to Guardians of the Galaxy 3.

... and I did catch up on all my Mission Impossible's to freshen up for Dead Reckoning, but it still hasn't hit streaming here.

Once again my year was filled mostly with TV, lots of re-watches and old movies.

WyldeMan wrote:I didn't even see 1/3 of the movies you watched this year. In years past I went out of my way to see as many of that years releases as I could but this year, I didn't care enough to see many of the new movies but there are still a couple of titles that I do plan on seeing soon like; Across the Spider-Verse, Saltburn and Oppenheimer.

Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One is one of the biggest disappointments of the whole year for me and it killed my enthusiasm for the franchise in one definitive and fatal blow. I had such hope and optimism about where they could go in the future and all of that erased just to keep stroking Cruise's inflated ego for another decade. Yay!

Sympathy for the Devil was another big letdown. For the majority of the year I kept hearing everybody hyping how incredible it was and about ten minutes in I not only figured out the "twist" ending but I realized the movie clearly didn't have a script and the director must have just said "Go full Cage" and he sure as shit did. Every single scene felt like the kind of stuff normal directors allow Cage to improv after they've gotten the real takes and they just want him to get all that fuckin craziness out so they can be serious but this director just decided to only use the insane outtakes with endless over the top behavior that makes all of his past characters look completely normal by comparison. Just so fucking weird man...

What movies surprised you in either the best or worst ways in 2023?

I'm shocked to see you didn't like Dead Reckoning. As the title suggests, I know it'll be half a movie but I had hoped the action and mission would be enough to make it stand on it's on.

I was surprised that I really enjoyed Barbie. I thought Gosling's Ken was hilarious and I can't remember the last time I enjoyed anything he was in. It wasn't all just about feminism, it covered a lot of things and it was executed very well.

Fair Play was great and as good as I hoped it would be. It just builds and builds until everything gets out of control and the ending was very intense.

Blue Beetle was better than I expected and Xolo was great in the role. I would count this as a win for DC.

Rusty wrote:My list of 2023 movies is:

- Fast X
- Rebel Moon

... and they both fucking sucked.

I was going to add X, but realised it was a 2022 movie.

I only got about 10 minutes in to Guardians of the Galaxy 3.

... and I did catch up on all my Mission Impossible's to freshen up for Dead Reckoning, but it still hasn't hit streaming here.

Once again my year was filled mostly with TV, lots of re-watches and old movies.

I forgot to add Fast X to my list. Damn Russ, you need better movies on your list. lol

UltimateMarvel wrote:

I forgot to add Fast X to my list. Damn Russ, you need better movies on your list. lol

I truly do! lol

I should add, I also watched the South Park: The Panderverse, and (Not Suitable for Children) specials - and I enjoyed them.

UltimateMarvel wrote:I'm shocked to see you didn't like Dead Reckoning. As the title suggests, I know it'll be half a movie but I had hoped the action and mission would be enough to make it stand on it's on.

I was surprised that I really enjoyed Barbie. I thought Gosling's Ken was hilarious and I can't remember the last time I enjoyed anything he was in. It wasn't all just about feminism, it covered a lot of things and it was executed very well.

Fair Play was great and as good as I hoped it would be. It just builds and builds until everything gets out of control and the ending was very intense.

Blue Beetle was better than I expected and Xolo was great in the role. I would count this as a win for DC.

I'm a big Rebecca Ferguson fan and I loved Elsa Faust, she was the ultimate spy and I thought she'd carry on the franchise as Tom aged out so her death for the introduction of a useless character played by Hayley Atwell into the franchise is unforgivable to me and completely killed my love for the franchise.

I haven't seen Barbie and I'm in no hurry.

Today I watched Across the Spider-Verse, what a dope sequel though I was not expecting a huge cliffhanger ending on a movie running over 130 minutes. Now comes the long long wait to Beyond the Spider-Verse.

I also watched David Slade's Dark Harvest. What a formulaic predictable piece of Halloween night horror trash. Being a huge fan of Slade's 30 Days of Night and having seen it countless times over the last two decades, I had such high expectations but Harvest was nothing but a disappointment and I will not recommend anybody waste their time with something so stupid. Pumpkin head with candy guts? For fucks sake.

Blue Beetle was the only DC release that wasn't a total failure even though it didn't really make money either. Xolo should be given the opportunity to return as Jaime down the road again though I don't know if Beetle necessarily needs another sequel any time soon.

WyldeMan wrote:I haven't seen Barbie and I'm in no hurry.

Maybe it's because I had low expectations. After the trailers, I wasn't even planning to watch it but I'm glad I did.

WyldeMan wrote:Today I watched Across the Spider-Verse, what a dope sequel though I was not expecting a huge cliffhanger ending on a movie running over 130 minutes. Now comes the long long wait to Beyond the Spider-Verse.

Spider-Verse movies continue to surprise me. I went from not liking Miles originally because of the early comics until this first movie really changed my view on the character and the second movie was just even better. I can't wait for the third one. And it had a solid cast too. I had to look up to see who was involved and had no idea it was their voice in the movie.

WyldeMan wrote:Blue Beetle was the only DC release that wasn't a total failure even though it didn't really make money either. Xolo should be given the opportunity to return as Jaime down the road again though I don't know if Beetle necessarily needs another sequel any time soon.

I agree, Xolo should return in future DC movies because he was great.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Maybe it's because I had low expectations. After the trailers, I wasn't even planning to watch it but I'm glad I did.

Spider-Verse movies continue to surprise me. I went from not liking Miles originally because of the early comics until this first movie really changed my view on the character and the second movie was just even better. I can't wait for the third one. And it had a solid cast too. I had to look up to see who was involved and had no idea it was their voice in the movie.

Barbie isn't on any of my streaming services and I'm not in a hurry to see it but I know I eventually will as I've seen every Margot movie to date.

Before the Spider-Verse I only knew Miles Morales by name and didn't like the idea of another Spider-Man who wasn't Peter Parker but after both of these movies, they've proven it's not only possible but that Miles is a pretty great addition to the Spidey roster.

I'm still making my way through some remaining 2023 titles I wanted to watch but thus far they've been disappointments like Silent Night and The Last Voyage of the Demeter. 

Bad CGI and shitty scripts make up nearly all new movies.

Can add another movie to my 2023 list.

Watched Guardians of the Galaxy 3 last night. Easily the best of my 2023 viewing - which isn't a tough task

Quality movie all around. Absolutely worth a revisit to the series.

Rusty wrote:Can add another movie to my 2023 list.

Watched Guardians of the Galaxy 3 last night. Easily the best of my 2023 viewing - which isn't a tough task

Quality movie all around. Absolutely worth a revisit to the series.

That's why I waited to comment after you said you quit after ten minutes. I knew it was awesome and that's why I watched it three times and you're right it plays even better when watched in succession with the rest of the franchise.

WyldeMan wrote:

That's why I waited to comment after you said you quit after ten minutes. I knew it was awesome and that's why I watched it three times and you're right it plays even better when watched in succession with the rest of the franchise.

I should have mentioned I only stopped after 10 minutes because it was late when I started and I knew I'd be too tired to finish, so I turned it off and waited until a better time - and I'm glad I did.

Might be time I did revisit the MCU story, albeit truncated. I'll stick to the Cap movies, the Avengers, Spidey's, Guardians, and the last two Thor's.

Rusty wrote:

WyldeMan wrote:

That's why I waited to comment after you said you quit after ten minutes. I knew it was awesome and that's why I watched it three times and you're right it plays even better when watched in succession with the rest of the franchise.

I should have mentioned I only stopped after 10 minutes because it was late when I started and I knew I'd be too tired to finish, so I turned it off and waited until a better time - and I'm glad I did.

Might be time I did revisit the MCU story, albeit truncated. I'll stick to the Cap movies, the Avengers, Spidey's, Guardians, and the last two Thor's.

LOL, that's pretty much how I rewatch the MCU too only I skip the early Avengers movies and do Infinity War and Endgame but that's only because Spidey and the Asguardians of the Galaxy are in them.

Went back and added The Flash to the list. What a garbage movie this was. The best parts are Affleck's brief appearance, Keaton and Sasha's version of Supergirl. There is nothing interesting about this movie. And the ending left everything a mess with the timeline anyway and I don't understand what their goal was with the reshoots knowing the state of DC. And the CGI, so much bad CGI and how they handled the Speed Force.......just set the whole thing on fire.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Went back and added The Flash to the list. What a garbage movie this was. The best parts are Affleck's brief appearance, Keaton and Sasha's version of Supergirl. There is nothing interesting about this movie. And the ending left everything a mess with the timeline anyway and I don't understand what their goal was with the reshoots knowing the state of DC. And the CGI, so much bad CGI and how they handled the Speed Force.......just set the whole thing on fire.

Yup, The Flash was my worst movie of 2023.